The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a non-volatile memory in a recording material accommodating cartridge so that various data (remaining amount data, use start date data, recording material type data, manufacturing managing data, etc.) on a cartridge can be stored in the non-volatile memory to manage the usage of each cartridge, and in particular, to a recording apparatus having an interface circuit (memory access controlling circuit) between a control portion of a recording apparatus main body and the non-volatile memory to reduce the amount of processing to be executed by the control portion to access the non-volatile memory, as well as a semiconductor device for use as the interface and a recording head apparatus comprising the interface circuit (memory access controlling circuit).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-184856 (Japanese Patent No. 2594912) describes an ink cartridge and a recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge has a non-volatile memory in which data corresponding to the amount of remaining ink are stored in order to manage the amount of remaining ink for each cartridge.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-197748 describes an ink jet printer including an ink cartridge having a non-volatile memory in which ID information is stored and a printer main body correlating the ID information for the ink cartridge read out from the non-volatile memory with the amount of remaining ink so as to eliminate the need to redetect the amount of remaining ink when an ink cartridge with the same ID information is reinstalled.
The above-described conventional recording apparatus and other devices are structured such that when an ink cartridge is installed at a predetermined position, a plurality of electrodes provided in the ink cartridge are electrically connected to a plurality of electrodes provided in an ink cartridge installing portion to allow a power supply to the non-volatile memory provided in the ink cartridge and transmission and reception of various signals to and from the non-volatile memory.
The conventional apparatus, however, is structured such that a power supply and various signal terminals of the non-volatile memory are all electrically drawn out and connected to a control portion of a printer apparatus main body, so that a large number of connection lines are present between the ink cartridge installed portion and the control portion of the printer apparatus main body. This may make it difficult to wire the connection lines. In particular, in a structure in which the ink cartridge is installed in a carriage including a recording head, a flexible cable must be used to electrically connect the carriage and the printer apparatus main body together so as to enable the movement of the carriage. As a result, an increase in the number of cores in the flexible cable may undesirably increase the amount of force required to move the carriage. Furthermore, if a plurality of ink cartridges are installed in the carriage, the number of connection lines increases in proportion to the number of ink cartridges. For example, in a structure using two types of ink cartridges including a black and a color ones, terminals of the non-volatile memory which are provided for the corresponding cartridges must each be drawn out, thereby doubling the number of required signal lines.
The present invention is provided to solve these problems, and it is an object thereof to provide an ink jet recording apparatus wherein a carriage in which an ink cartridge is installed has an interface circuit (memory access controlling circuit) comprising a function of accessing a non-volatile memory and a function of communicating data to and from a printer apparatus main body, thereby making it possible to reduce the number of connection lines between an ink cartridge installed portion and the printer apparatus main body, as well as a semiconductor device and a recording head device both serving to achieve this purpose.
An ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by having a memory access controlling portion in a carriage including a housing portion for an ink cartridge including a non-volatile memory, the memory access controlling portion controlling data transmissions and receptions between a control portion of a recording apparatus main body and the non-volatile memory based on commands from the control portion of the recording apparatus main body.
The carriage has the memory access controlling portion, via which the non-volatile memory is accessed, thereby making it possible to reduce the number of connection lines between the carriage and the control portion of the recording apparatus main body.
The memory access controlling portion preferably comprises a serial data communicating means for executing serial data communication with the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, a command executing portion for executing a command supplied by the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, and a non-volatile memory write and readout controlling portion for executing writes to and readouts from the non-volatile memory.
The use of the serial data communication reduces the number of connection lines between the carriage and the control portion of the recording apparatus main body.
Further, the memory access controlling portion preferably comprises a serial data communicating means for executing serial data communication with the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, a command executing portion for executing a command supplied by the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, a non-volatile memory write and readout controlling portion for executing writes to and readouts from the non-volatile memory, and a temporary storage means for temporarily storing data read out from the non-volatile memory.
The memory access controlling portion has the temporary storage means such as a random access memory in which data read out from the non-volatile memory are all stored so that the stored data can be read out in response to a data readout request from the apparatus main body controlling portion, thus making it possible to respond to data readout requests at a high speed. Furthermore, after generating a data read out request to renew the data in the temporary storage means, the apparatus main body controlling portion can generate a data write request for the non-volatile memory to cause the renewed data to be written to the non-volatile memory. Accordingly, even with a plurality of data items to be renewed, the plurality of data can be written to the non-volatile memory with a single write operation.
Additionally, the memory access controlling portion desirably comprise a power supply controlling portion for controlling a power supply to the non-volatile memory.
The power supply controlling means enables power supply to the non-volatile memory only when it is accessed. This makes it possible to reduce unwanted power consumption. Further, the power supply is stopped while the non-volatile memory is not accessed, thereby preventing the data stored in the non-volatile memory from being rewritten due to noise or the like.
The non-volatile memory write and readout controlling means is desirably configured to be able to output plural types of clocks for executing at least either a write to or a readout from the non-volatile memory and to select from these clocks depending on the electrical characteristics of the non-volatile memory. When the plural types of clocks of different pulse widths are provided and selected from depending on the electrical characteristics of the non-volatile memory, the points of time to execute a readout from or a write to the non-volatile memory can be appropriately set.
Further, the memory access controlling portion is desirably configured to be able to access a plurality of non-volatile memories.
This configuration prevents the number of connection lines between the carriage and the control portion of the recording apparatus from being increased despite an increase in the number of non-volatile memories.
The use of a semiconductor device (integrated circuit device) for the memory access controlling portion facilitates the provision of the memory access controlling portion in the carriage including the housing portion of the ink carriage and serves to reduce the size of the carriage.